Games Consoles

As we know, most devices nowadays connect to the web. Do you know what your children are doing or who they’re connecting with when gaming? Xbox, PlayStation or WII, they all have parental control options that are designed to help keep children safe. Whilst children may not appreciate the restrictions, you will know that you are helping to keep them safe.

Xbox Live

Xbox Live is an online portal provided by Microsoft for online gamers. Gamers can interact with others on a global scale, they can download films, buy games and gain rewards for using the service such as free games, cheats or hidden feature. Gamers can compete against others with similar skills or abilities, they can chat and communicate with others from around the world.

Overview

The Xbox 360 console lets you customise and manage your family’s access to games, films and television content. The Xbox 360 parental controls can be used to control the console itself and access to Xbox Live. Parental controls allow you control things such as:

Which games can be played.

Which films and TV shows can be watched.

How long each family member can use the console on a daily or weekly basis.

Whether or not someone can access Xbox Live.

You can also change the online safety and privacy settings for your account or a managed dependant account.

Block or allow access to Internet Explorer for Xbox.

Determine who can see your profile.

For parents, determine if approval is required to accept or send friend requests.

Note Parental controls on the Xbox 360 console are different from those on the Xbox One console.

PlayStation

To get the most of out the PS4’s parental controls, you should ensure an appropriate adult has a Master Account, and any children have a Sub Account. The Master Account controls what is and isn’t accessible to the Sub Accounts, and different rules can be created for individual Sub Accounts. For example age appropriate content for siblings.

Log in to the Master Account. If you don’t have a Master Account, this article has information on how to create one.

Set passcodes. There are two different passcodes that you should set to make sure your settings are secure.

Master Account passcode: This prevents other users from logging into your account to make changes to parental controls or view unauthorized content. To do this go to (Settings) > [Login Settings] > [Passcode Management].

Parental controls passcode: This passcode is must be entered before changing any parental controls. The default code is:0000, and it is recommended that you change it. To do this go to (Settings) > [Parental Controls] > [Restrict Use of PS4 Features] > [Change Passcode]. If you forget the parental control code, press the [Options] button on the controller and login to PSN.

Sub Accounts

If you already have a Sub Account associated with your Master Account, you’re ready to set Parental Controls.

If you do not have a Sub Account associated with the Master Account, you can refer to this article for details on creating a Sub Account on the PS4.